1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a lamp, a method for manufacturing the lamp and a liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus having the lamp. More particularly, example embodiments of the present invention relate to a lamp capable of reducing power consumption, a method for manufacturing the lamp and an LCD apparatus having the lamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus used for an LCD monitor of a computer or an LCD television includes a backlight unit disposed at the rear of the LCD apparatus. A cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) is generally used as a light source of the backlight unit. A diameter of the CCFL is smaller than that of a conventional lamp, and the CCFL has low power consumption. Furthermore, the luminance and luminance uniformity of the CCFL are higher than those of a conventional lamp.
When electrons are emitted from electrodes at both ends of the CCFL, mercury in the CCFL is excited to emit ultraviolet rays, and a fluorescent layer converts the ultraviolet rays into visible rays.
Typically, the electrodes of the CCFL are covered with cesium (Cs) to improve dark start characteristics. According to a conventional method, the electrodes are coated with an aqueous solution containing cesium (Cs). However, the lamp coated with cesium (Cs) may not be further coated with a metal material having a high electron emission efficiency because the aqueous solution containing cesium (Cs) includes water molecules.
Particularly, the water molecules of the aqueous solution containing cesium (Cs) may react with the metal material capable of enhancing the electron emission efficiency. Thus, additional coating may be difficult to apply because light flickering is generated by the reaction. Therefore, there is a problem in that the lamp may have low light-emitting efficiency.